Neil's picks - CJ and Leonard

Add passing on MCW, Giannis, Snell and Hardaway Jr to the mix. I think the Blazers were thinking they were too smart for the room and were going to strike it big with another Lillard (small conference player with little national respect).

That being said, I have a feeling the Blazers stand pat on their rotation since they are seeing they can hold down the fort in Lopez's absence. Not a bad idea since this next draft is going to pretty damn solid even in the 20's.

 

CJ is going to be good. He just needs to stay healthy.

 

The draft is and always has been a crap shoot. See Wesley Mathews for confirmation. Damian Lillard is a tough act to follow. Once we got him, it's hard to be objective about CJ or Meyers instantly having NBA skills. They don't yet. Projects are projects and we're really talking about the bottom of the bench here. CJ and Leonard are why Neil went out and got Blake and Kaman. It makes sense.

 

Snell? Come on.... Giannis would be pretty awesome to have right about now though.

 

Winning a championship would be the best way to build a dynasty here and add roster pieces here and there. I think that's the plan. Stotts doesn't want to be exclusively a player development coach. He wants to win now! Giannis is a rare talent and that's a team that really needed a spark.

 

I swear, if someone brings up MCW again I'm gonna go crazy. He made a statement saying he didn't want to be here. Why pick a guy who says that? That's right, you don't...

 

Hindsight I'd rank my board for that pick as:

1) Steven Adams
2) Rudy Gobert
3) Kelly Olynyk
4) CJ McCollum

Fwiw, this is how I had it on draft day:

1) CJ McCollum
2) Steven Adams
3) Rudy Gobert

With Giannis and Larkin on my radar.

 

MCW is also shooting worse than Nic Batum this year...

 

Yeah, MCW is a shitty version of Rondo and Rondo is not a good offensive player either.

 

MCW: 15 PER with a 26 USG%

Yuck. I can see why they tried to trade him last summer.

 

If you squint a bit you can also see why they still have him.

 

To me, Adams is a bit of a meh. He's a 7 and 7 guy. Yeah, he'd still very young and could get better, but he looks like a career back up/marginal starter kind of player. The ONLY reason he's starting for OKC is that Kendrick Perkins sucks beyond belief. He was the worst starter in the entire NBA last season, possibly one of the worst ever.

Beyond the goonyism and thuggery, there is little similarity between Adams and Laimbeer. Yeah, Laimbeer got under his opponents' skin, but he also had some skills. He was a 4-time all-star, back when the league was full of great centers. He was also a great rebounder. He averaged over 12 rpg for four straight years and led the league in rebounding one year at 13.1 rpg. Adams is an average rebounder - nowhere in Laimbeer's league.

Anyway, we already have two centers that are way better than Adams, and Joel Freeland may have less upside, but he's pretty comparable to Adams in terms of talent and production at this point.

Of course, we didn't have Rolo and Kaman at the time of the draft, so Adams wouldn't have been a bad pick. The big man I wanted in that draft was, due to his defense, was Gorgui Dieng , but would have been happy with Gobert, too.

BNM

 

And Laimbeer could nail the three.

 

So you are saying there is hope for Leonard?!

 

Sure, if you combined Leonard's shooting and Adams tenacity.

 

I was thinking more T Rob and Leonard, but yours works too

 

I think Adams has better court awareness and understanding of how to play than both of them put together. He doesn't have their skill or athleticism though. Thank god.

 

Doubtful considering the dude can't stay healthy.


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ive thought this a bunch of times, all these guys we pine over would basically be claver, key word being PINE